Hi Lyde, The following is pure speculation but based upon Christine's original information. Another possibility would be that Elizabeth Wensinger, the grandmother, is the mother of Johanna Wensinger Frederick (note she is a widow) who may be the blind aunt Christine spoke of. It is possible that Elizabeth was also the mother of another daughter (possibly also named Elizabeth) who was married to someone named Snyder by whom she had several sons. Although William B. Snyder does not appear with the family, he may have moved elsewhere by this time since he would have been about 22 in 1880. If Christine's information is a bit sketchy, it may be that it has also become somewhat confused over the years (I've found this sort of thing in my own family). Elizabeth Wensinger may be the maternal grandmother and Jacob or Isaac Snyder could be either the father or the paternal grandfather. Christine, if you see this, I would also suggest that you try the German spelling of the name Snyder which would be Schneider. If the family was German or Swiss they probably would have used that spelling originally. Obviously the SWIT listed as birthplace stands for Switzerland but I am at a loss as to what BRESEIN or BIEDEN would be. I checked maps of Switzerland, Germany and Austria and found nothing similar. However, many names have changed over the years. Does anyone know? Gloria

Thank you to everyone helping me with this. William was indeed married and living elsewhere St Joseph by this time. If the info I found is correct, he was living with his wife Jennie, and Henry was living between both places - if this Elisabeth Wensinger is related, which it seems she is. Problem is, she doesn't show up in any previous census (I have checked every census image with a Wensinger on it in the Ancestry.com images - there are only 70 from 1790 through 1870). I've also checked every soundex spelling for Snyder for New York, eastern Illinois, and Buchanan County, MO, to no avail. Unfortunately, there was no information about Jacob or Isaac Snyder (by any spelling) marrying Elizabeth Wenzinger/Wensinger in Illinois in the Marriage Index. I don't have any concrete information on where they were married, but it seems that it didn't happen in Illinois (though my correspondent who is a descendent of Henry Snyder says Elizabeth and Isaac were married in Jo Daviess County, but I don't know how she arrived at that conclusion because there is no Wenzinger/Wensinger in the Illinois Marriage Index). Was there a newspaper in Fulton County that carried birth announcements in 1858? Or obits in 1859 that might show William's parents as having died? Cemetery listings? Is there any possiblity that the County birth records go back as far as Feb 1858? With a name this common, I'm afraid I'll never get it unravelled without some kind of birth record for William. If I could get the parents names settled, it would go a long way toward straightening this out. My father didn't even know William had any siblings - he seemed very certain that William was an only child (but William died in 1940 when my father was 9, so he doesn't remember an awful lot). BTW, Bieden is in Germany (or was). It seems to me that the Swiss borders were rather fluid through the 1800s (and probably until the end of WW2). Thank you again to everyone who has been putting in time on my questions - I really appreciate all of the efforts. Christine At 09:37 AM 2/24/2003 -0500, you wrote: >Hi Lyde, > The following is pure speculation but based upon Christine's original >information. > > Another possibility would be that Elizabeth Wensinger, the grandmother, >is the mother of Johanna Wensinger Frederick (note she is a widow) who may be >the blind aunt Christine spoke of. It is possible that Elizabeth was also >the mother of another daughter (possibly also named Elizabeth) who was >married to someone named Snyder by whom she had several sons. Although >William B. Snyder does not appear with the family, he may have moved >elsewhere by this time since he would have been about 22 in 1880. If >Christine's information is a bit sketchy, it may be that it has also become >somewhat confused over the years (I've found this sort of thing in my own >family). Elizabeth Wensinger may be the maternal grandmother and Jacob or >Isaac Snyder could be either the father or the paternal grandfather. > > Christine, if you see this, I would also suggest that you try the German >spelling of the name Snyder which would be Schneider. If the family was >German or Swiss they probably would have used that spelling originally. > > Obviously the SWIT listed as birthplace stands for Switzerland but I am >at a loss as to what BRESEIN or BIEDEN would be. I checked maps of >Switzerland, Germany and Austria and found nothing similar. However, many >names have changed over the years. Does anyone know? > >Gloria > > >==== ILFULTON Mailing List ==== >To UNsubscribe from the mailing list in MAIL MODE send a message to: > [email protected] >Put ONLY the word "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the body (Turn off any signature files)